LIEBERMAN WEST:

Party chair's left jabs put Cantwell on the defensive (Joni Balter, 5/11/06, Seattle Times)

When Dwight Pelz was elected chairman of the Washington State Democrats, he promised to reach out to moderate and rural Democrats all across the state. It didn't take long for him to revert to form — a reflexive liberal playing to a narrow Seattle base.

Pelz is living proof Democrats love to eat their young — or at least work against their own candidates. Pelz last week did a disservice to U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and the moderate wing of the party by effectively challenging her Democratic bona fides.

Pelz, longtime King County councilman and party chairman not long enough to have a clue, lobbed one at the state's No. 1 Democratic candidate running this fall. Cantwell faces a vigorous Republican challenge in Mike McGavick, former CEO for Safeco and former aide to U.S. Sen Slade Gorton.

"Definitely right now there are a lot of activists who are not signing up to work on her campaign and that's very clear," Pelz said last week, explaining that her position on the Iraq war is making it difficult to recruit volunteers to support her.

Who's he working for?

Such ideological purity tests among the Democrats have served the GOP well, though some in the Stupid Party would like to adopt them as well.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 11, 2006 8:08 AM